In this two part talk Dr Brian Parsons and Dr Helen Frisby will tell the story of how people cared for the dead, and how this changed, between c.1850 and 1950.

In Part 1, Helen will describe how the bodies of the dead traditionally were kept at home in the interval between death and the funeral. The dead person was washed and dressed by a local laying-out woman, and actions such as covering mirrors and telling the bees were widely carried out. Neighbours visited in order to view and ‘wake’ the deceased. However crowded dwellings and the effects of decomposition – to say nothing of the emotional and financial burden of hosting - meant that the home was not always the most convenient location for retaining a body.

Small wonder, then, that the so-called ‘Chapel of Rest’ was immediately popular when the first ones opened during the 1930s. In part 2 Brian will describe how urban undertakers/funeral directors at this time began providing spaces where the coffin could be retained before burial or cremation. Carefully decorated to emulate a religious environment, the chapel enabled families to view the deceased in privacy. Although often welcomed by the bereaved, this relocation also had the effect of negating long-held, arguably valuable traditions of death and burial. 

Helen Frisby researches traditional English funeral customs and the informal occupational culture of frontline cemetery staff. She is the author of Traditions of Death and Burial and has appeared on the History Channel and BBC Radio. independent.academia.edu/HelenFrisby

Brian Parsons researches the work of the funeral director, funeral service history, the development of cremation and London cemeteries. He is the author of Committed to the Cleansing Flame, The Undertaker at Work 1900-1950 and (with Hugh Meller) the sixth edition of London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer. www.brianparsons.org.uk